Alliance Mag | Saving citizenship

Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar: Three Hindi words and a simple theory to stabilise our civic equilibrium

Inevitably perhaps, the world is churning. As this special feature makes clear, fears around declining democracy, failing institutions, and accelerating climate risk abound, and at first glance there are no easy answers. That said, after three decades working in the philanthropic sector, I believe there are pathways forward.

For those unfamiliar with philanthropic work, it is grounded in the Indian context, and my focus has long been on developing a unified theory that describes interactions between three pillars of contemporary humanity. Taken from the Hindi, these pillars are,
Samaaj (Society), Sarkaar (State), and Bazaar (Markets), and I propose that healthy democracies need a strong, active samaaj, or civil society, to balance and guide the sarkaar and bazaar towards collective action and public good.

In this sense, I believe that samaaj has always been our foundation, and states and markets were created to help society scale more effectively and equitably. Importantly, this model depends on states and markets remaining accountable to society, and this is where I
see our contemporary equilibrium failing.

The role of citizens

Reflecting on this, and attempting to rectify the pattern in practice, is something I have since dedicated my time to. Through various philanthropic portfolios, including Access to Justice, Gender, Climate and Environment, we try to empower moral leadership to take on complex challenges, and we partner with both governments and corporations to ensure holistic engagement.

As a result, we’ve seen that when philanthropy supports good ideas, individuals, and institutions with trust and patience, it inspires citizens to exercise their civic muscle for societal missions— and we find these align the incentives of samaaj, sarkaar, and bazaar most fully.

Such stories in our sector are, however, increasingly rare, and as a foundation we’ve begin to see the seminal role of society routinely undermined by all-too-powerful states and markets. We, the people, seem to be market consumers or subjects of the state first, and citizens second, and I find this deeply troubling.

For me, this is the primary reason for the decline of civic institutions we are witnessing, because good governance is something that cannot be consumed, but must be co-created. To that end, just as healthy markets are not a given and must be regulated, so I believe citizenship is not an inborn virtue, but must be cultivated, and that is the task ahead.

Restoring the balance

Philanthropy can play a supporting but bold role to restore this balance. To do this effectively, it must be aware of its own distorting power and be prepared to take the role of scaffolding, not architect.

By doing so, it can help imagine the institutions needed to manage new problems; enable leadership building at every region, age, and level; and can quietly support citizen-owned voluntary movements in adaptation against disasters and economic disruption. It
can help restore the primacy of ‘Samaaj’.

Looking to the future, in my country, India, the social sector faces increasingly strict government regulation while a generation of enlightened social leaders, continue to age. Philanthropy is expanding, yes, but not at the rate needed to drive innovation at scale, yet new philanthropists free from the burdens of legacy can bring much-needed transformation.

Here, new wealth is already exploring solutions in areas including energy transition, AI for education and agriculture, urban design, and more, and importantly, Indian philanthropy is also looking outward, globally, to exchange emerging ideas in a world where power may be shifting from the axes of the past century. This gives me hope, and this hope becomes my new religion. Perhaps it is the only religion that can unite rather than divide humanity and spark the energy needed to dispel inertia. In times like these, hope can be the societal fuel to lift us past the headwinds to come.

The future is unwritten.

First Published in The Allaince Magazine